Kenny Dalglish Won't Be Delivering the Module: English Premiership 2011-12

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Swansea up to tenth! Gotta hand it to them tbh

top quality intense stoppage-time whistling from their fans, but they saw it out pretty calmly all told

Newcastle deserve fourth, except that it's damning that they don't have it already

I was born to hate Newcastle and devotedly did so all my life but this season they are just really, really good and I am warming to them. They couldn't have done it with even Shearer's ghost still haunting that team tbh

From J, via text: "Wenger complains teams never engage Arsenal in a game of football, but any time it happens their defensive frailties are all too obvious. Well played Swans."

otm

it's the same bloody excuse Ajax always comes up with. Well that and the fact that it rained

i don't hate any club as a matter of principle, just take it regime-by-regime or season-by-season, and it's genuinely only liverpool that have been constant the past five-six years

Hate Newcastle and Chelsea usually, but have warmed to both this year. Utd are this year's, without their awfulness I'd like pretty much the whole division.

I'm starting to hate Liverpool a bit though.

Agreed. Can't stand United this year, can't stand Scholes, can't stand Fergie, can't stand Rooney... ugh

Liverpool's failing doesn't make me hate them more. Makes them more real tbh

I still enjoyed them when they were properly failing, but unless we're facing a big team this year is just ugh.

h8 arsenal and stoke and utd and pool and wigan

2nd half against Man City on Weds was my only ugh moment with LFC this season. Mostly inept at home but good away and I love the defence and the majority of the players tbh. Just exasperated cos I think Chelsea, Arsenal are genuinely rubbish and 4th place should have been there for the taking.

Used to love Bergkamp era Arsenal, hate this lot tho.

Spurs not hateable yet but give it a few more weeks and I'm sure I'll manage it.

Yeah I'm being unfair because at least some of the bad home form really is down to luck, but what I can't handle is that it rarely looks like it when we're chasing the win. We always look like a dour mid-table side punching above their weight, if anything.

From J, via text: "Wenger complains teams never engage Arsenal in a game of football, but any time it happens their defensive frailties are all too obvious. Well played Swans."

otm

― I certainly wouldn't have, but hey. (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, 15 January 2012 18:07 (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The BBC published that? That's PhD level stuff by their standards

top reasons that i might begin to hate a team over time:-

consistent on-pitch thuggery (particularly unpunished)- stoke, f'rinstance
consistent favouritism from refs/FA- utd, f'rinstance, tho stoke also
consistent refusal to take responsibility for own job- rafa, f'rinstance, tho wenger also
consistent frustration with manager/players tactics/performance - spurs, arsenal, utd, lfc

The BBC published that? That's PhD level stuff by their standards

― MPx4A, Sunday, January 15, 2012 7:28 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I know right? Bevan must've looked to left 'n right, saw that Nult wasn't around quickly pressed publish I think

is it just a case of Brendan Rogers is the next great manager?

I think he's developing a Scottish accent just in case. LOL his son is called Anton Rodgers!

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Swansea and Norwich do seem a bit unusual for promoted sides. Normally the ones that do well are either ugly-but-effective, or on a lucky run that's clearly going to end. I don't think you can say that about these two.

I'm not sure that Norwich are that unusual, they remind me of Reading in their first year, even Wigan in their first season. Swansea are genuinely surprising.

yeah, Norwich can play a bit but it's a pretty orthodox English style of playing a bit, pace and wide men and shonky defending.

still better than us :(

Swansea have the worst away record in the league.

And one of the best home records in the league. Surprisingly good defence given they change personnel quite a bit as well. For the amount he cost and the difference he's made, Vorm might be the signing of the season. They'll sell him at a massive profit if nothing else.

Why are they so shite away from home though?

ipswich were a class outfit first season up, the only thing strange about this is two promoted sides doing well while playing well.

Hull, blackpool were doing well playing well roundabouts now in their respective relegations seasons, tbf.

that norwich can play a bit is unusual insofar as their squad seems to consist of a bunch of league one-standard journeymen. with swansea we at least have the more obvious dark magic of somehow having britain's answer to xavi and iniesta in the middle.

Can't remember where I read it, but there was a fascinating article somewhere that broke down the stats to demonstrate that home advantage was a factor the more team-based a sport is. It's quite pronounced in football, middling in something like baseball, and almost irrelevant in tennis.

long distance to travel, opponents don't have ling distance to travel.???

Hull and Blackpool had started to slip by now, Swansea seem to be improving.

Apparently not, it reckons the hostile crowd really does have an effect on teamwork. Wish I could remember so's I could link it.

Richard Williams piece in the Graun today was saying that he's been concentrating on getting the Swansea players to make the right decisions correctly under pressure. That's much more likely to be affected by hostile crowds, I reckon.

Brendan Rogers, not Richard Williams. I wouldn't trust Richard Williams to manage my football team.

that norwich can play a bit is unusual insofar as their squad seems to consist of a bunch of league one-standard journeymen.

Ditto Blackpool. Difference in quality of the respective managers signifcant I would think.

Blackpool were 2 points better off than Swansea at the same point in their Prem season, though by then the rot had definitely set in. They'd conceded a lot more goals.

It was this dissenting lrb review. The stats guys actually pin it on bent refereeing, but the teamwork thing is more plausible imo.

I read an article around home advantage, and as well as it affecting team sports more than individual sports, it also affects male teams waaaay more than female teams. I think the evolutionary-biology-style conclusion that home advantage is about men protecting their territory from marauding intruders, which sounds a little cute to me.

Are there also Premiership clubs that are notoriously bad away from home? Who have that reputation?

For example here in Holland we have Heracles Almelo, who usually end up being just save from relegation. They have the worst away from home stats nearly every season. Managers and players come and go, but that just seems to forever stay that way. So weird.

savfe

spurs away were historically poor iirc

Hull did well the first half of their first Prem season and were more or less abject after the thrashing at Man City/Phil Brown's Caligula complex kicked in

didn't do well thru playing excellent football tho iirc

It's the IPL, but for football. I'm up for this.

Am happy to see them figure out no longer being the worlds worst footballers or whatever they are supposed to be according to Why England Lose

Also hope this means I can say more about football to some of my workmates other than 'yes, that is Wayne Rooney you saw in the paper'.

Cahill to Chelsea has completed by the looks of things? Should convert David Luiz into a midfielder now.

defenders that would be better as midfielders, a list:

david luiz
djourou
Agger?
P jones
G johnson

Agger would be a beast now you mention it.

Loads of fullbacks would make serviceable-to-great wingers, central defenders are a different kettle of fish. I notice Kaboul has been making more and more marauding runs forward of late, and he can pass the ball as well, he'd be pretty decent.

kaboul a good candidate, tho tbf at pompey he was a roaming fb so not a new suggestion